So today  the Illinois Supreme Court granted defendant Bayer's PLA in the De Bouse Baycol consumer class action. There are a several substantive issues on appeal as to the viability of the deceptive practices issue (like whether any were made to the named plaintiff), but there is also a procedural issue that all defense attorneys practicing in Southern Illinois have nightmares about.

And that is this:  sometimes really important court orders don't get mailed out.  Sometimes they do, but due to very busy clerks,  they aren't received until 31 days after the order has been entered. Oh what a terrible feeling. Your time to appeal just ran.  And you didn't even realize it. I am sure that there is some kind of analogy like the tree falling in the forest and no one hearing it, but being on the wrong end of this is just horrible-and not funny.

It seems that this happened to Bayer's attorneys. They never got the  trial court order granting class certification-something any defendant would always appeal. They tried valiantly to repair the damage, getting the trial judge (who was very sporting about it) to enter an order nunc pro tunc so the clock to appeal would start ticking anew. To no avail. The Fifth District said Judge O'Malley didn't have jurisdiction to give that huge break to defendant (and their counsel).

A Procrustean ruling, if I do say (he is the fellow who chopped the feet off of his hotel guests to make them fit the bed). The Court indicated that the  attorneys should  physically monitor the file  (St. Clair County is not on line).   So, BE ALERT. If you are expecting any important decisions out of any Illinois court-go to the courthouse and monitor the file. For now anyway.

We will see what the Illinois Supreme Court has to say.